Reciprocity Agreement on Mountain Huts

Member
federations of the UIAA – International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation
are entitled to use about 1,200 mountain huts offering accommodation for 66,000
people in the entire alpine region – from Slovenia to France, including the
Pyrenees.

Those eligible
to benefit from reciprocity are offered the same overnight rates as members of
the hut-owning associations; in some huts, these special conditions are up to
50 per cent of the regular rate.

In the last 10
years, the hut-owning associations have invested almost €170 million in the
modernisation and maintenance of this alpine infrastructure.

All member associations are obliged to acquire
reciprocity for all their members and thus to print reciprocity stamps in membership
cards.

All UIAA member associations are entitled to obtain
individual stamps for their members from the Reciprocal Agreement Secretariat.
The stamps are valid for one year.

Other mountaineering associations which are not UIAA
members can submit an application to purchase individual stamps for their
members to the meeting of the participating associations. The meeting decides
after a response has been obtained from the national UIAA association.

Individual
mountaineers who are interested in the benefits of the agreement should contact
their national federation.

The Reciprocal
Agreement Secretariat, currently managed by the Swiss Alpine Club, has the sole
right to print and issue individual stamps. The stamps will be delivered to the
associations upon receipt of payment. Unused stamps may be exchanged for stamps
valid the following year.

The scale of fees,
which fixes the level of fees for hut-owning and non-hut-owning associations as
well as the fee for individual stamps, will be determined at the annual meeting
of the participating associations.